This is true. Wilder in now paying the price for ducking Wlad and the chance to be undisputed HW champ. AJ took the risks, unified three titles, and he's earned the right to call the shots.

Vlad openly admitted to wilder not getting the fight because he was to high risk low reward... he chose Joshua because he saw him as the easier target. Plus that risk reward was way better. So it was not wilder ducking vlad it was the opposite. Now. Anthony is choosing to duck and his fans are so loyal theyre ignoring it. Truly laughable. Hearn is gonna Hirt his own image if he keeps talking. It’s a new age of promotion with social media and smart phones. Everything you say is saved and can be brought back up to haunt you.

The nerve of this mfkr annoys me! If I was Wilder, I would just flip this on them and make them seek me out for the last belt when the time comes. After all, Joshua will never be undisputed with Wilder as a champion.

because they are the a side! they have the leverage and bum squad doesn't. If I was hearn I would lower the amount and if bum squad doesn't like it he can fight someone else for peanuts while aj gets 20 million against anyone. there's also tyson fury him and aj would be a mega fight that would make much more than wilder. let beyonce starve until he comes back to reality!

Vlad openly admitted to wilder not getting the fight because he was to high risk low reward... he chose Joshua because he saw him as the easier target. Plus that risk reward was way better. So it was not wilder ducking vlad it was the opposite. Now. Anthony is choosing to duck and his fans are so loyal theyre ignoring it. Truly laughable. Hearn is gonna Hirt his own image if he keeps talking. It’s a new age of promotion with social media and smart phones. Everything you say is saved and can be brought back up to haunt you.

Yeah, it sure can!

Shelly Finkel on Wilder unifying with Wlad:

“Look, Wilder is a baby winning the title. It was his first title fight, they'll be a time for unification, they'll be a time for all those things” Finkel said to the Tuscaloosa News.
“It's not the right thing yet. Give him a couple of fights, maybe bring something back to Alabama. Let him develop just like any other athlete. They don't take someone who is a great college prospect and throw him right in. And this kid is a great prospect.”

If Deontay Wilder blows out Dominic Breazeale on CBS in front of 4m homes in his next fight, while Joshua blasts out Povetkin in front of 10000 streams on DAZN, it'll definitely matter, especially if the story gets into the ether that, at best, Eddie Hearn is trying to deliver fights for the Brits (or at worse that Joshua and his camp are straight ducking the fight), the American expansion efforts for Joshua's appeal are dead.

You add the nonsense with Dillian Whyte being in the wings for a rematch (after swerving Ortiz for the WBC mandatory, swerving Pulev for the IBF mandatory, and now fighting Joseph Parker on the hope that the WBO elevates that winner above Fury and the Usyk-Gassiev winner), and we're getting into real reputation risk here.

Everyone knows that $15m was a bull**** offer, but Wilder accepted it (and let everyone know that he accepted it) because it was a fight that was capturing the attention of the general sports fan; $15m to take the fight on short money with the second fight in Las Vegas.

Then Eddie Hearn tried to change the plan; next turned to maybe October/November to Spring 2019, the rematch now became a one-way binding decision, and Eddie Hearn looked to cut Showtime out of the broadcast.

The boxing press isn't the sharpest outfit in the world, generally speaking, but even they can see that but, most importantly, have no real incentive to look away.